She Treads Softly: Studies at the School by the Sea

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Studies at the School by the Sea

Studies at the School by the Sea by Jenny Colgan
3/26/24; 288 pages
HarperCollins
School by the Sea #4

Studies at the School by the Sea by Jenny Colgan is highly recommended. As a Whole, the whole series of four School by the Sea books are very highly recommended.

Maggie Adair loves teaching at the prestigious Downey House boarding school in Cornwall and she is sure she loves David, a teacher at the inner city Philip Dean school. After she had to cancel a summer vacation with him and returned home to Scotland due to an emergency, Maggie is hoping to continue her relationship with David, however, she is also misses the idea of a different life back in Scotland. Maggie's favorite students are back, Fliss, Alice, Simone, and Isme, and bring with them their individual struggles as they finally finish their studies at the school by the sea.

Fans of the series will applaud another addition to the series. Studies at the School by the Sea is an entertaining, quirky story, but not my favorite book in the series. New readers need to know that this series is best read in order and the individual books won't work well as stand-alone novels. The first book in the series, Welcome to the School by the Sea, was my favorite in the series. The second and third books are Rules at the School by the Sea, and Lessons at the School by the Sea. a good final novel to end the series with, even though there are a few cliff hangers. Now, apparently, there is news that there will be a fifth book in the series. This novel was reviewed in partnership with my mother who is a big fan of the author. Thanks to HarperCollins for providing me with an advance reader's copy via Edelweiss. My review is voluntary and expresses our honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.